Monthly Archives: July 2015

The NPER function calculates the term, or number of regular payments, on a loan or for an investment annuity given its interest rate, the payments, present value (or loan balance),

future value (or balloon payment), and, optionally, the type-of-annuity switch. If you set the type-of-annuity switch to 1, Excel assumes payments occur at the beginning of the period, following the annuity due convention. If you set the annuity switch to 0 or you omit the

argument, Excel assumes payments occur at the end of the period following the ordinary annuity convention.

The function uses the following syntax:

NPER (rate, pmt, pv, fv, type)

For example, to calculate the number of $1,000 monthly payments required to pay off a 9% mortgage that still has a $100,000 mortgage balance, you use the following formula:

=NPER (.09/12,-1000,100000,0,0)

The function returns the value 185.53, representing roughly 185 payments and then another

roughly half payment. Notice that to convert the 9% annual interest to a period interest, the

formula divides the annual interest rate by 12. Notice, too, that the payment amount, as a

cash outflow, shows as a negative value while the loan balance, as an implicit cash inflow,

shows as a positive value.

NOTE The NPER function rarely returns an integer, or whole-number result. As in the preceding

example, it commonly returns a fractional value, indicating that after the last regular payment, an additional fractional payment will also need to be made.

You can also use the NPER function to calculate investment terms. In this case, you calculate

the number of payments that need to be made in order to reach some future value.

Suppose, for example, that you want to calculate how many years a customer needs to contribute

$2,000 to an Individual Retirement Account in order to amass a $1,000,000 portfolio.

If you assume the customer will earn 9% annually and will make payments at the beginning of the year, you use the following formula to make this estimate:

=NPER (.09,-2000,0,1000000,1)

The function returns the value 43.45, indicating the $2,000 payments will need to be made

for slightly more than 43 years. Notice that the type switch is 1, which means that the function

returns the amount that must be paid at the beginning of the year. If you instead want

to calculate the amount that would need to be paid at the beginning of each year, you would

use the following formula to make this estimate:

=NPER (.09,-2000,0,1000000,0)

This formula returns the value 44.43. This value is slightly more than the annuity due value

because by making payments at year-end, the customer loses interest.

If you wanted to make the same calculation but recognize the added fact that the customer

With the aid of the internet online debt consolidation, programs are far easier to gain access to, consumers can enrollin debt relief programs online. These debt relief programs can simplify managing finances by utilizing the internet. With the problem of excessive debt on the world economy and the rise of personal debt increasing, solutions are being made available to ease the problem.

Marriage councilors cite debt as a major issue in divorce from problems caused by debt and financial issues that place stress and worries on young families.

There are now numerous online debt consolidation programs available to help consumers save money and start reducing their principal debts. These loans allow consumers access to funding that will combine and wrap up all of the balances of their unsecured debts and credit card loans.

When a consumer enters into the program, they can make just one payment on a monthly basis on the total amount owed, the interest charged is generally much lower than the interest rates found in credit card agreements.

The benefits to the consumer are immediately visible as the whole debt is managed from just one account and can be easily administered on the web, without the need to travel to a bank, and having to divulge any private and confidential information.

With a debt consolidation program handled over the internet, consumers have control of their finances, and are able to do it from their own home.

The first step is to undertake a little research on the internet, where you will find a plethora of companies that offer online debt relief solutions.

Every individual circumstance is different and there are numerous programs that can suit everyone, the consumer needs to compare before determining the right program for their specific needs.

Consumers are encouraged to be cautious when looking or researching for lending companies that offer online debt consolidation programs.

While these loans can be very beneficial, and most programs offer balanced advise, there are unscrupulous companies throughout the industry.

The consumer should always err on the side of caution before entering into any of these programs and check for references and see if they are rated with the Better Business Bureau for more information.

Also it is advisable to read all the fine print and documentation before entering into a contractual agreement.

If the consumer finds that they do not qualify for a debt consolidation loan or they do not have sufficient equity in their home or that they simply do not have any collateral at all, they may still qualify for a debt relief scheme that enables a third party to act on their behalf in mediating with their creditors.

This type of debt relief is for consumers that generally find they have more money going out than coming in to their household budget and that are finding that they are falling behind on their financial commitments, their could be numerous reasons for this possibly one household income earner has ceased due to job loss, redundancy or illness, generally the qualifying amount owed to creditors has to be in the region of over $5000. It is advisable to try to pay off if it is less than $5000 as once enrolling into a program their credit rating will be affected.

Once the consumer is in the program the debt consolidation company takes over and deals directly with the credit card companies or creditors, credit card companies actually prefer this for people who are in difficulty as it better for them to have some kind of agreed amount to be paid back to them rather than have debt collectors chasing the consumer.

Generally the consumer may be able to save up to 50% to 75% of the original debt owed, and will be debt free once the amount is cleared, the consumer is advised to seek out companies that have a proven track record in this type of consolidation program.

Saving money and paying off loans on your mortgage may not be a usual pairing, but it can be done. This usually entails a bit of deliberation on your future mortgage payment. You have to look at the general picture instead of what you can have at the moment. Here are a couple of tips on how to save a lot of money while paying off your loan.

As much as possible, you have to scout around and avail of loans via a prime lender. A prime lending company can offer you the best mortgage rate. This means that you have fewer payments due and more benefits to gain as opposed to loans from sub-prime lenders. As you know, sub-prime lending companies (for bad credit and such) tend to charge exorbitant fees for their loans, as a guarantee against possible non-completion of payment.

Scouting around and availing loans from prime lenders may sound easy enough to do. However, according to recent market studies, a number of people are actually making a beeline to the sub-prime lenders instead. Why? People simply assume that sub-prime loans are all they can handle. These are the people who: at one point or the other declared bankruptcy; missed multiple payments on other credit companies; are paying off a number of other loans; etc.

Low credit score is not synonymous with bad credit. There are also some people who do have (or have had) bad credit rating, but with a credit score that is on an acceptable plateau. In which case, there will always be one or more prime lending company that will accept their business.

If you are indeed looking at sub-prime loans, it would be best to check your credit score first. You might be pleasantly surprised to find that some prime lenders will accept loan applications from you despite your low rating. On the other hand, if your credit score does not qualify for prime loans, you have to at least make sure that you are choosing loans from sub-prime lending company with the largest possible down imbursement.

Calculate your risks beforehand. Who among us have never been enticed with such engaging promises of great pay-outs for the mortgage we have now? Unfortunately for most of us, we learn the pitfalls and drawbacks of our current loans a bit too late.

The rule of thumb here is: never fall for the first loan that comes your way. There will always be a better deal somewhere. If you are not at all familiar with the ins-and-outs of mortgage, mortgage rate, and mortgage payment, you may want to hire the services of a lending officer or financial adviser. These pros can lead you to the best deals in the market.

However, if you would rather do this on your own, then you should really take your time analyzing all aspects of the loan: from the loaning company, right down to the last payment you have to give. These days, it is easy enough to figure out just how much money you are to gain in a loan and eventually shell out for its payment. A mortgage calculator is an invaluable tool indeed, and a great number of these are free to download from the web and use at your convenience. More specialized tools like the mortgage rate calculator and the mortgage payment calculator are also downloadable free of charge.